Futurama (Be-Bop Deluxe album)

Futurama is the second album by the band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in 1975.

Futurama
Studio album by
Be-Bop Deluxe
ReleasedJuly 1975
Recorded1975
Genre
Length35:31
LabelHarvest
ProducerRoy Thomas Baker
Be-Bop Deluxe chronology
Axe Victim
(1974)		 Futurama
(1975)		 Sunburst Finish
(1976)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Background and recording

After the line-up of Be-Bop Deluxe changed, the band recorded the album with founder member Bill Nelson (guitars, keyboards and vocals), Charlie Tumahai (bass and backing vocals) and Simon Fox (drums). The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales[2] and produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who also produced Queen.[3]

Release

Futurama was released in July 1975 by record label Harvest.

Subsequently, in October 1976, "Maid in Heaven" reached number 36 in the UK singles charts as the lead track on the Hot Valves EP. The American market was harder to break for British acts during the 1970s due to the hangover from the 1960s and problems with availability of records in the US for breaking acts such as Be-Bop Deluxe, whose first album Axe Victim was only available as an import.[4]

Reception

Although critics were not always open to the mix of styles, Be-Bop and Nelson's music received a fairly warm welcome from the music critic of The New York Times. John Rockwell started his article with a fairly scathing dismissal of English musical acts:

"Every month or is it week? seems to bring a new rock band from Britain, eager to catch a few leftover crumbs from the Anglophilia of the 1960s. Most fail completely; others latch onto an FM cult success; a very few, unpredictably, make it big..."[5]

Although his opening seems to dismiss British music as hanging on to fame gained during the 1960s, Rockwell goes on to say:

"Be-Bop Deluxe is redeemed by the brilliance of [the band's] playing, and particularly Nelson's guitar playing. His records put Nelson right up there with the other great masters of the electric guitar."[5]

In The Rough Guide to Rock, Peter Buckley described the album as:

"Top-heavy with massed guitars and melodic ideas pursued on a whim and just as quickly abandoned, it nevertheless contained two of the most perfect pop singles never to make the charts – 'Maid in Heaven' and 'Sister Seagull'."[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bill Nelson[6].

No.TitleLength
1."Stage Whispers"3:05
2."Love With the Madman"3:12
3."Maid in Heaven"2:26
4."Sister Seagull"3:36
5."Sound Track"6:15
6."Music in Dreamland"4:44
7."Jean Cocteau"2:53
8."Between the Worlds"3:17
9."Swan Song"6:03
10."Between the Worlds (original single version) (bonus track)"3:19
11."Maid in Heaven (recorded live in 1977) (bonus track)"2:33
12."Speed of the Wind (bonus track)"4:19

Personnel

References
  1. http://www.allmusic.com/album/futurama-r30128
  2. Nick Logan, Bob Woffinden (1977). "Be-Bop Deluxe". The illustrated encyclopedia of rock (Book). Harmony Books. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-600-33171-1. Retrieved 8 August 2010.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. Peter, Buckley. The Rough Guide to Rock (Book). Rough Guides Ltd. p. 65. ISBN 1-84353-105-4. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  4. Rockwell, John (22 March 1976). "The pop life" (Newspaper). Ocala Star. p. Banner 3B. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  5. Rockwell, John (11 March 1976). "The Pop Life; And Now From Britain, Be-Bop Deluxe" (Newspaper). The New York Times. p. 45. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  6. "Futurama: Be Bep Deluxe". Prog Archives. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
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